Just got a relatively new mid-budget WC case in and will be doing one of my typical no frills worklog on it over the next week or two. Aside from the case, the great majority of parts are from earlier builds, however, some of you might recognise a few of the parts going into it as being stuff that I've snagged off of HWC buy/sell threads and have been hoarding for the last little while.

Couple of new purchases for this build. I'm putting the 990FX Sabertooth into this build, and just couldn't live with the dual core athlon running on a full fledged WC build so I picked up the 965 on sale at NCIX last week. My last upgrade (hex i7 for me i7 920 upgrade for my son) left me short a set of mem so I grabbed these off of last week's sale as well.

This isn't going to be the vid card on the final build, but will be filling that role until a more permanent (WC'd) solution arrives. Nothing like putting a $50+ aftermarket cooler on a (I dunno... maybe $30? ) ATI 4850 with a noisy fan. :)

Some of the HWC purchased items that'll be going into this build. The bay res was purchased on it's own, but the SSD was purchased as part of a bundle (and would be wasted on my main rig as it doesn't have Sata3) , and the GTs came attached to a 360 rad but this case will only accept a 240.

Well, that's it for now. As per my TT build I'll update this first post with links to future pics.

Oh... almost forgot... in case you don't already know what the case is (I've mentioned it on the forums previously), here's a teaser......

Ok, got a chance to take some external pics (and it stopped raining long enough for me to do it outside.... ;) ). Say hello to my new friend, the Bitfenix Ghost...........

If you're looking for bling, this isn't the case for you. Pretty much straight lines and all black. If you're considering this case keep in mind that in spite of not being rated for E-ATX this is still a large full sized case. At 522mm high it's pretty much as high as my GT minus the handle, although it's not quite as long, and certainly not as wide.

First impressions are that it seems solid, but the plastic belies it's aprox. $100 pricetag (NCIX PP users should have a look for a pleasant surprise.... ;) ).

Closer look at the front and rear. While the front panel can accept a 140mm fan, the rear panel only allows for a 120mm. Thumbscrews are included for securing the sides, but again in keeping the pricepoint reasonable Bitfenix has chosen to provide metal "punch-outs" for external WC tubing rather than pre-punched holes with rubber "X'd" grommets. Frankly, 99.9% of folks who want to watercool in this case are going to do it internally, so it's not a big deal.

Front door opens to reveal an understated black mesh grill w/ three 5 1/4 bays and one 3 1/2 (I much prefer this to the current trend of four 5 1/4 w/ one of them doing double duty with a 3 1/2 cutout). The front grill / filter is secured via two spring loaded latches as are the top grill and storage bay. For some strange reason this mechanisim isn't used for the front door, but I suspect that decision was made in order to allow the door hinge to be switched from one side to the other. (Lower images showing pin on one side, and hinge locking mechanism on the other).

Top view again shows a fairly spartan theme, although it's worth noting that the paint treatment on this comes across almost like a mild metal flake. It's more than just a flat black.

Top grill again removes by releasing the spring loaded latches and reveals space for either extra fans or up to 240mm worth of rad. I've got both a fairly thick PA and a thin Swiftech so I'll take the time to see what kind of fan options we can get with different rads.

Front panel sports power and HDD lights, front panel audio, USB2 and USB3 ports, as well as both power and reset switches. Spring latches again for the top Hot Swap / storage bay.

Is it just me, or does the lack of an e-sata port on the front/top panel seem strange? Has the industry chosen USB 3.0 over esata, or is it possibly the fact that there's an easily accessable hot swap bay that might have made that design choice?

On the off chance that anybody cares or is wondering WTH I mean by a spring loaded latch, here's a couple of pics of the pin and socket for that mechanism. Bitfenix gets kudos from me for chosing to use two per panel as it provides a superior "fit" over just one.

Quick look at the bottom. From the outside it's the one view that makes this case look and feel cheap. I like the design choice of securing the lower filter with magnets, but am a bit concerned that those magnets might end up rattling at some point down the line.

Anywise folks, that's it for now. The internals and build will have to wait until a later date.

Lookin good Mr. Wilson! I was wondering what you had hiding under that cardboard box! I didn't even realize this case was on store shelves. Are you going to be putting the HWLabs Black Ice GT Stealth 360 in there?

Lookin good Mr. Wilson! I was wondering what you had hiding under that cardboard box! I didn't even realize this case was on store shelves. Are you going to be putting the HWLabs Black Ice GT Stealth 360 in there?

Unfortunately it won't fit a 360 rad, but if you have a look at the initial parts you might recognise the fans..... ;)

I've got a PA 240 that'll probably end up going in there, but I'm not sure on the fan config until I get a chance to see what kind of clearances I've got. (I made that mistake with the TT by assuming it would do push-pull without any modding, I won't make the same assumption again... ;) ).